Soft-Tissue Tumors of the Head and Neck

The anatomy of the head and neck region is complex, and includes mesenchymal tissues of essentially all types. It is therefore not surprising that the head and neck gives rise to an extraordinary variety of benign, borderline, and malignant soft tissue tumors, encompassing essentially all of the soft-tissue tumors that may be seen elsewhere in the body. In addition, the head and neck region gives rise to distinctive soft tissue tumors without counterparts in other anatomic sites, such as biphenotypic sinonasal sarcoma and sinonasal glomangiopericytoma. This chapter emphasizes those clinicopathological features of head and neck soft tissue tumors that are particular to this region, or may cause particular difficulty in these complex locations. Emphasis is placed in the integration of clinical, morphologic, immunohistochemical, and molecular genetic features in the diagnosis and differential diagnosis of head and neck soft-tissue tumors, and on newly described entities of clinical significance. The text is accompanied by an updated reference list, tables summarizing the key features of selected tumors aiming to help in their differential diagnosis, and more than 70 figures, many incorporating images new to this edition of the book.